Three alien machines descend to the asteroid base of their enemies.  The ensuing battle is short and savage.  The lone survivor hopes either for rescue, or for another chance to engage its enemies.  It will be a long wait… 
  
Wrik Trigardt ekes out a living in the Kandalor system with his small ship, Sinner.  He is caught between his failed past and a grim present in service to the local crimelord, Dusko.  An expedition to the Rift Asteroids promises better days, but when the well of time is disturbed no one can say what will surface. 
  
Set in the same universe as the Robert Fenaday/Shasti Rainhell stories, but decades later, My Outcast State begins a new cycle of exploration of Confederation Space.